Absolute Silence

19

My breath shuddered when his warm hand rested gently on the curve of my ass. “We’re going to test a new limit tonight. See how you do with a little pain.” His hand slowly swept down the length of my legs, then signaled me to shift my weight as he removed my heels one at a time. From where he squatted, he had a perfect view of my folds. My position left me vulnerable. On display. I had to focus in order to remain relaxed. “Your skin is flawless. It’s going to look incredible reddened with my marks.” He nipped at my buttocks. My back arched in surprise. “If it’s too much, you’ll stop, right?” A tendril of panic wound its way around my throat, making it hard to breathe. Filip came to the side of the chaise and squatted until we were eye level. “Camilla, this is all for you. I have no intention of going beyond your comfort zone. You say the word, and we’re done. Period. Okay?” I nodded, my heart rate easing back to a healthy jog rather than a dizzying sprint. Filip used his thumb to tug at my bottom lip before standing and resuming his stance behind me. “For four days, you ignored my messages. As I’m the man who has pledged to see to your needs and keep you safe, that is inexcusable. You will communicate openly with me at all times. Is that clear?” “Yes.” His hand made a caressing circle around one globe of my ass. “Monday.” It was the only thing he said before his hand disappeared. Just as quickly, a stinging palm branded my backside. I stilled, hardly breathing as I absorbed the mild pain. Filip caressed over the sting, his hand then traveling to the other cheek. “Tuesday.” Thwack. This time, the sting triggered a tiny trickle of endorphins. Yesssss. There it is. “Wednesday,” he barked, the intensity in his voice building. Thwack. I moaned, feeling a tiny taste of euphoria just out of reach. Filip switched back to the original cheek. “And this is for your silence when I specifically warned you Thursday.” Three strikes in rapid succession. The slight spike in pain heated and cooled my blood at the same time. I focused on the sensation, absorbing every ounce of my body’s reaction to the firing nerves. When the initial wave crested and I coasted back down, my body melted into a puddle of relaxed tissue. The pain was so shortlived, and the subsequent high was only momentary, but it was enough. I languished in the tiny taste of release I’d gone so long without. The ecstasy of letting everything else in the world fall to the wayside. Too quickly, I was tugged back to reality. “Camilla, that was a very unusual response to being s*****d for the first time. You haven’t lied to me about being new to this, have you?” “I haven’t lied.” Not exactly. Besides, my past was irrelevant. “Considering your response, I should go harder on you after forcing me to go without for two weeks, but your actions weren’t entirely unjustified.” “Go without?” I glanced back to where he was unbuttoning his shirt, allowing a mesmerizing peek at the taut skin beneath. He tugged on my middle, lifting me up to stand with him at my back. “If I wasn’t with you at the club, then I wasn’t with anyone. That’s how this works.” So he hadn’t gone back in to f**k another woman after I’d left the club? He hadn’t been with others while he kept me at bay? I was stunned. Was that why he was so upset that I might have taken a man home from the bar? A damnable fluttering warmth filled my chest. It would do me no good. I was absolutely not allowed to develop any feelings for this man. “I didn’t know,” I sputtered. His nostrils flared. “Now you do. I may not have been clear at first, but this agreement extends beyond the walls of the club.” It almost sounded like it angered him to say the words. “Okay,” I whispered soothingly. The sudden fire inside him eased to a molten glow at my reassurance. “Hands against the wall.” I did as he said, hands raised just above my head. Filip shadowed my every movement. The moment I stilled, his warmth was at my back, his hands reconnecting with my skin. “I should make this last longer tonight. You deserve that at least, but it’s been two weeks, and seeing your ass red from my hand while hearing the sweet sounds you made when I touched you … I can’t hold myself off any longer.” His hands swept around to massage my breasts, plucking sharply at my pebbled n*****s. I arched into the sting, eliciting a groan from behind me. “You … you don’t know what you do to me.” A whispered admission I doubted he would have shared had he not been in such a state. One hand trailed with a tremor down my belly and slid easily into my folds. “f**k, you’re ready. So wet and ready for me.” His voice was strained, his lust stirring the molten lava pooling in my belly. “Please, Filip. I need more.”A grunt. His hands left me, and I could hear the clinking of his belt and the rip of foil. He placed one hand at the nape of my neck and guided me a few inches lower against the wall. His other hand pressed against my lower back, encouraging me to arch and present my ass for his pleasure. For my pleasure. I was completely drunk on lust. Nothing else existed in that room but the two of us and our pursuit of physical bliss. Filip eased inside me, soothing the pulsing need that clambered to be filled. His hand clamped harder around my neck as he sheathed himself fully inside me. “Fuck.” The curse tore from his lips with unrestrained violence. It wasn’t a benediction or praise. The expletive was a pure curse. I didn’t have time to question his outburst. The second he recovered from whatever had overcome him, Filip began to pound into me. With one hand at my neck and the other on my hip, he burrowed deep into my soul where the darkness lived. He was a musician playing the perfect chords to make my heart sing. I pressed my hands against the wall and met his every stroke. Harder. Faster. “Yesssss!” I cried out, well on my way to abandoning my sanity. To embracing the animal instincts inside me and relishing my ruination. Filip roared behind me. “Now, Camilla.” His palm connected again with the already tender skin on my ass, a sharp slap that electrified my body. White-hot energy radiated from my core into every extremity. Filip hissed as his hands clamped down and his motions slowed. I was only vaguely aware, adrift on a chemical high no drug could ever duplicate. His scalding body folded over mine, our heaving chests aligning. My legs grew shaky, but Filip supported me, one hand propped on the wall and the other secure around my middle. He lowered his lips to my shoulder and hovered. His panted breaths cast warm swaths of moisture across my skin before his mouth opened and clamped over the sinewy muscle at the base of my neck.